Card-holding case with a dispensing hole

ABSTRACT

A card-holding case has a case body provided with a card dispenser. The case body has a cavity to receive cards, and a dispensing hole. The cavity is closed by a cover having an aperture and a slide rail unit. The card dispenser includes a slide disposed over the aperture and mounted slidably to the slide rail unit, and a pusher arm connected to the slide and extending into the cavity through the aperture. The pusher arm has a push end to contact the cards. The slide is slidable relative to the cover to move the push end toward the dispensing hole so that the push end pushes one of the cards outward from the dispensing hole. The card-holding case may be hung on the user&#39;s body when a hanging string is attached to the case body.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a card-holding case, more particularly to acard-holding case having a dispensing hole and a hanging string.

2. Description of the Related Art

Conventional card-holding cases are generally formed as hard cases,which have a size slightly larger than that of name cards. Such casesare usually placed on desks or tables because of the large thicknessthereof. People also use thinner card-holding cases, which areconvenient to carry and which can be placed in a pocket or a bag.

FIG. 1 shows a card-holding case which is easy to carry and whichincludes a base housing 11 and a cover 12 connected pivotally to thebase housing 11. The base housing 11 includes a base wall 111, anengaging wall 112 extending upward from a longitudinal side of the basewall 111, two sidewalls 113 extending upward from two transverse sidesof the base wall 111, and a cavity 114 for receiving a stack of namecards 13, which is defined by the base wall 111, the engaging wall 112and the sidewalls 113. The cover 12 is provided with a hook 121. Whenthe cover 12 is closed, the hook 12 interlocks with the engaging wall112.

While the aforesaid card-holding case can be carried easily in a pocketor a bag, because the thickness thereof has to be limited considerablyso as to avoid occupation of too much space, the card-holding case is sothin that the use must grasp it carefully when picking out one of thename cards 13 therefrom. Besides, when one of the name cards 13 is to betaken out from the card-holding case, it is necessary to first take outthe card-holding case from the pocket or bag, and then open thecard-holding case and separate the name cards to get one. This task istime-consuming. Therefore, further improvements relating to acard-holding case are desirable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide acard-holding case, which can be operated easily to dispense cards one byone through a dispensing hole.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a card-holdingcase, which can be hung on a user's body.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide amulti-functional card-holding case, which incorporates other functionalcomponents such as a lens, a compass, a mirror etc.

According to the present invention, a card-holding case comprises a casebody and a card dispenser. The case body includes a base, a cavityformed in the base and adapted to receive a stack of cards, a coverclosing the cavity, and a dispensing hole communicated with the cavity.The cover has an aperture and a slide rail unit. The card dispenserincludes a slide disposed over the aperture and mounted slidably to theslide rail unit, and a pusher arm connected to the slide and extendinginto the cavity through the aperture. The pusher arm has a push endadapted to contact one of the cards. The slide is slidable relative tothe cover to move the push end toward the dispensing hole so that thepush endpushes one of the cards outward from the dispensing hole.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent in the following detailed description of the preferredembodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 shows a conventional name card case;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of a card-holding case according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the card-holding case of FIG. 2 in anopen state;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the card-holding case of FIG. 2 in aclosed state;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is the same view as FIG. 5, but showing a slide which has beenpushed rightwards;

FIG. 7 is the same view as FIG. 5, but showing a card that is pushedoutwards from a dispensing hole; and

FIG. 8 is a bottom plan view of the card-holding case of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, there is shown a preferred embodiment ofa card-holding case (A) according to the present invention, which isusable to hold a stack of name cards 91 and which has a hanging string92 attached thereto (see FIG. 8). The card-holding case (A) includes acase body 2, a dispensing hole 4, a compass 5, a magnifying lens 6, amirror 7, and a card dispenser 8.

The case body 2 includes a base 21, a cavity 22 to receive the namecards 91, a cover 23, and a dispensing hole 4. The base 21 has a bottomwall 210, and a plurality of sidewalls, i.e. two parallel front and rearsidewalls 211, 212, and two parallel left and right sidewalls 213, 214.The bottom wall 210 cooperates with the front, rear, left and rightsidewalls to define the cavity 22.

The cover 23 has a top wall 230 disposed on top of the front, rear, leftand right side walls 211, 212, 213, 214, a front panel 231 extendingdownward from a front end of the top wall 230, an aperture 232 formed inthe top wall 230 in communication with the cavity 22, two slide rails233 (i.e. a slide rail unit) provided on two edges of the aperture 232and extending in a direction substantially parallel to the front panel231.

The dispensing hole 4 is an elongated slot formed between the top wall230 and a top end of the left sidewall 213 (i.e. one of the sidewallstransverse to the direction of the slide rails 233), and is communicatedwith the cavity 22. The dispensing hole 4 may also be an elongated slotformed integrally in the base 21 or the cover 23 during molding of thebase 21 or the cover 23.

The base 21 further has a guide which includes a plurality of guide ribs215 disposed proximate to the dispensing hole 4, two spaced-apart lowerhinge portions 216 provided on the rear sidewall 212, a hanging part 217provided at the middle of the rear sidewall 212, two spaced-apartengaging blocks 218 provided in the front sidewall 211, and a handlepart 219 disposed in the front sidewall 211 between the two engagingblocks 218. A hanging hole 3 is provided in the hanging part 217 topermit attachment of the hanging string 92 (see FIG. 8) to the hangingpart 217. Each guide rib 215 projects from inner surfaces of the leftsidewall 213 and the bottom wall 210 and has an inclined guide surface2151 that extends inclinedly and upwardly from the bottom wall 210 tothe dispensing hole 4.

The cover 23 further has a stop plate 234 disposed at an inner side ofthe top wall 230 proximate to the aperture 232, a circular insert hole235 disposed between the slide rails 233 for insertion of the compass 6,a circular through hole 236 disposed in the top wall 230 to receive themagnifying lens 7, two spaced apart upper hinge portions 237 projectingfrom the top wall 230 and connected pivotally to the lower hingeportions 216, and two spaced apart engaging hooks 238 disposed in thefront panel 231. The stop plate 234 has a stop face 241 adjacent to theaperture 232, and a first spring-retaining hook 242 projecting downwardtherefrom. When the cover 23 is closed, the engaging hooks 238 of thecover 23 engage the respective engaging blocks 218 of the base 21. Whenthe cover 23 is opened by applying forces to the cover 23 and the handlepart 219, the engaging hooks 238 of the cover 23 disengage from therespective engaging blocks 218 of the base. When the cover 23 is turnedrelative to the base 21, the cavity 22 is opened.

The compass 5 is inserted into the insert hole 235 in the cover 23 sothat the compass 5 can be viewed without opening the cover 23.

The magnifying lens 6 is fixed in the through hole 236 of the cover 23and can be used when the cover 23 is opened.

The mirror 7 is disposed at an inner side of the cover and may be usedwhen the cover 23 is opened.

The card dispenser 8 includes a slide 81 disposed over the aperture 232and mounted slideably on the slide rails 233, a returning spring 82 thathas two opposite ends respectively connected to the stop plate 234 andthe slide 81 and that biases the slide 81 to move toward the dispensinghole 4, and a pusher arm 83 connected pivotally to the slide 81 andextending downward from the slide 81. The slide 81 has a slide plate811, a knurled anti-slip portion 812 provided on a top side thereof, apair of pivot lugs 813 projecting downward from the slide plate 811, anda second spring-retaining hook 814 projecting downward from the slideplate 811.

In particular, the two ends of the returning spring 82 are respectivelyconnected to the first spring-retaining hook 242 of the stop plate 24and the second spring-retaining hook 814 of the slide plate 811. Thepusher arm 83 has pivot ends 831 pivoted respectively to the pivot lugs813, a push end 832 opposite to the pivot ends 831 and a torsion spring833 connected to the pivot ends 831 and the pivot lugs 813 to bias thepusher arm 83 to move downward so that the push end 832 is pushedagainst the name cards 91. Therefore, the push end 832 is able to pressa topmost one of the name cards 91 either when the name cards 91completely fill the cavity 22, or when only a few name cards 91 are leftin the cavity 22.

While the pusher arm 83 in this embodiment is fabricated as a separatepiece from the slide plate 811, it may be formed integrally with theslide plate 811 during molding the slide plate 811. On the other hand,the push end 832 of the pusher arm 83 may be provided with a frictionplate 834 to provide frictional contact with the name cards 91.

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 illustrate the operation of the card dispenser 8. Whenthe slide 81 is moved rightwards and away from the dispensing hole 4 byhand, the pusher arm 83 and the push end 832 are moved rightwards. Atthis state, the name cards 91 do not move rightwards as they are stoppedby the right sidewall 214. The returning spring 82 is extended becauseit is pulled rightwards.

When the slide 81 is released, the returning spring 82 returns to itsoriginal position so that the slide 81 and the push end 832 of thepusher arm 83 move leftwards and toward the dispensing hole 4. In thisstate, the push end 832 pushes the topmost one of the name cards 91,which is in contact therewith, toward the dispensing hole 4 until theslide 81 abuts against the stop face 241 of the stop plate 234. When thename card 91 reaches the guide ribs 215, the guide surfaces 2151 of theguide ribs 215 guide the name card 91 to move outward through thedispensing hole 4. Note that the width of the dispensing hole 4 is sodesigned that only one of the name cards 91 can pass through thedispensing hole 4.

Referring back to FIG. 8, the hanging string 92 extends through thehanging hole 3 in the hanging part 217 so that the case body 2 may behung on the neck of the user. On the other hand, as the case body 2 ismade of a transparent material, any card placed within the case body 2can be viewed directly from the outside. Therefore, the case body 2 maybe used as a hanging card enclosure.

Note that the card-holding case (A) according to the present inventionhas two longitudinal sides in a first direction (I) (see FIG. 2) and twotransverse sides in a second direction (II), and is suitable to receivea plurality of cards that have horizontally printed lines in the seconddirection (II). As the hanging hole 3 is provided at one of thelongitudinal sides of the case body 2, it is convenient for the user whowears the hanging string 92 to read the horizontally printed lines ofthe card. Alternatively, the hanging hole 3 may also be provided at oneof the transverse sides of the card-holding case (A). In this case, thecard-holding case (A) is suitable to receive cards having verticallyprinted lines.

While the present invention has been described in connection with whatis considered the most practical and preferred embodiment, it isunderstood that this invention is not limited to the disclosedembodiment but is intended to cover various arrangements included withinthe spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompassall such modifications and equivalent arrangements.

1. A card-holding case comprising: a case body including a base, acavity formed in said base and adapted to receive a stack of cards, acover closing said cavity, and a dispensing hole communicated with saidcavity, said cover having an aperture and a slide rail unit; and a carddispenser including a slide disposed over said aperture and mountedslidably to said slide rail unit, and a pusher arm connected to saidslide and extending into said cavity through said aperture, said pusherarm having a push end adapted to contact one of the cards, said slidebeing slidable relative to said cover to move said push end toward saiddispensing hole, whereby said push end pushes one of the cards outwardfrom the dispensing hole.
 2. The card-holding case of claim 1, whereinsaid pusher arm is connected pivotally to said slide and is biased tomove said push end downward.
 3. The card-holding case of claim 2,wherein said pusher arm further has a pivot end pivoted to said slideopposite to said push end, and a torsion spring connected to said pivotend and biasing said pusher arm.
 4. The card-holding case of claim 2,wherein said base has a bottom wall, and a plurality of sidewallsextending upward from said bottom wall to confine said cavity with saidbottom wall, said slide rail unit having two spaced apart parallel railsextending in one direction, said push end being movable in said onedirection, said cover further having a top wall disposed on top of saidsidewalls, said dispensing hole being formed between said top wall and atop end of one of said sidewalls transverse to said one direction. 5.The card-holding case of claim 4, wherein said cover is hinged to saidbase.
 6. The card-holding case of claim 4, wherein said card dispenserfurther has a returning spring, said returning spring having two endswhich are opposite to each other in said one direction and which areconnected respectively to said slide and said cover.
 7. The card-holdingcase of claim 6, wherein said case body further includes a guidedisposed on said one of said sidewalls and proximate to said dispensinghole.
 8. The card-holding case of claim 7, wherein said guide has aplurality of spaced apart guide ribs each projecting from an innersurface of said one of said sidewalls and an inner surface of saidbottom wall and each having an inclined guide surface that extendsinclinedly and upwardly from said bottom wall to said top end of saidone of said sidewalls.
 9. The card-holding case of claim 1, wherein saidcase body further includes a hanging part provided with a hanging hole.10. The card-holding case of claim 9, further comprising a hangingstring connected to said hanging hole.
 11. The card-holding case ofclaim 1, further comprising a magnifying lens mounted on said cover. 12.The card-holding case of claim 1, further comprising a compass mountedon said cover.
 13. The card-holding case of claim 1, further comprisinga mirror mounted on said cover.